Ready Player One
by NeutralGuise
Summary: Gamer fusion. Jack's life was weird way before he met the giant alien robots.
1. Chapter 1

**Notes:** I've decided to expand Gamer (Chapter 3 of my one shot collection) into a proper fic. I'll be using Gamer as an outline, but there are things I want to change and elaborate. I'm trying to work on "showing, not telling" and dialogue in my writing, so this fic will be a learning experience for me. Finally, this is a fusion with a Korean webcomic called The Gamer, but you won't need to be familiar with that to understand this story.

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

Jack lingered in the doorway and tried to gather the courage to confront his mother. All day he'd been distracting himself with homework and chores, and there was nothing left to do. He had run out of reasons for putting this conversation off. Jack took a breath and stepped into the den.

"Hey, Mom? Can I talk to you?"

June switched off the TV and shifted on the couch to face him, "Of course. Is something wrong?"

"Not really, it's just—I have questions, and I think you have answers." Jack's eyes slid to the text hovering over his mother's head. **LV ? June Darby**

"Oh?"

Jack sat down next to her and stared at his hands while he tried to find the words he needed, "The past few weeks have been really strange for me. It's like something out of a cartoon, or comic book. I don't know for sure that you're involved, but you're strong, stronger than anyone else in this town. There are probably other explanations for that but…"

June looked shocked for a moment before her face fell, "Oh, I was really hoping to go forever without needing to have this conversation with you."

"You mean—?"

"First, I need you to tell me exactly how things have been strange for you lately. I need to make sure that we're on the same page."

"Okay, this is really weird to say, but… it's like I'm a video game character? When I look at people I see their level and name floating above their head. That's how I knew something was strange with you; I can't see your level. I get quests every time the teachers assign homework or you give me a chore. I get experience when I work out or study. I even _leveled up_ the other day and got stat points for it. I tried moving some of the heavier pieces of furniture before and after I put all those points into strength, and I could tell the difference. I get skills that level up when I do certain things, like **Cooking** when I make dinner. Oh, and I kind of accidentally destroyed one of your old books? It turns out I can also use instructional books as skill books. I got the **Sewing** skill from one of your books, but that destroyed the book, so… Sorry?"

June blinked at him. "That's fine. I don't really use them anymore. I'd been meaning to donate them. Is that all you can do?"

"Yea—no, wait. I also have an inventory screen. **Inventory**." Jack picked up a couch cushion and shoved it at the screen that appeared. (Well, it appeared to him, all his mother would see was the cushion disappearing into thin air.) He waited a moment before pulling it back out ant returning it to the sofa.

"Wow, that's a lot of abilities to start out with. Alright, I'm going to explain this to you the way it was explained to me when I first became involved in all this. Are you familiar with the Gaia theory?"

"You mean like the planet itself being alive?"

"Yes, well, it might be true. A lot of people with abilities like us accept it as true anyway. There are other names for it, if you prefer. Providence, natural law, principle, origin… god…"

"What, really?" God existed? His mother had never been particularly religious, so this was especially shocking.

June shrugged, "I don't know that for certain, but the fact is supernatural abilities exist. Telekinesis, teleportation, flight, pyrokinesis, they're all real. Some people were born with these abilities. They are known as Natural Ability Users. It's like they were chosen by the planet. Usually, but not always, their ability has some significance to the person. You got a video game power because that's how you spend all your free time."

"What about you?"

A dark look passed over her face, "I almost died in a fire when I was young, so-" She held out her hand and called a small flame into her palm. After a few seconds, she clenched her fist and extinguished the fire. "I probably don't need to tell you this, but you need to be careful about using your powers in front of others."

"I can guess—government goons, experimentation, death."

His mother smiled briefly and shook her head, "The government would be the least of our worries. The planet doesn't like being exposed. People who are too blatant with their powers tend to experience bad luck. The more obvious they are, the more likely that misfortune is to kill them. Fortunately, one skill all Ability Users have in common is the power to summon Illusion Barriers. Illusion Barriers are protected spaces where we can use our abilities freely without impacting the world around us. Here, I'll show you."

June stood up and extended her hand. Jack grabbed her hand and watched as she lifted her other hand and—suddenly, the world was silent. "Whoa, what did you do?"

"I opened an Illusion Barrier. You and I are the only living things here." His mother turned to the couch that they had been sitting on and unleashed a blast of fire.

"Mom! What the hell?"

"Language, Jack." June kicked over the coffee table before raising her hand a second time. There was a strange distortion around her hand, almost like shattering glass, and instantly the sounds of electricity humming through the house and insects outside returned. The sofa and table were in pristine condition.

"See, nothing I did in the Barrier affected our house. Now you try making one. Just hold up your hand, gather energy, and concentrate on creating an Illusion Barrier."

Jack held up his hand, closed his eyes, and focused. Eventually, that eerie silence returned and Jack opened his eyes to see that a trio of pop ups had appeared.

 **A skill has been created through a special act.**

 **[ID Create] is created. It lets you make an Instant Dungeon, which is a type of Illusion Barrier.**

 **[ID Create (Active) LV 1 EXP : 0.0% ] A skill to make an Instant Dungeon. You can make stronger ones by increasing your skill level.**

"Good, now concentrate on leaving the Barrier."

Jack did so and soon they were back in the real world and another three windows telling him about **ID** **Escape** showed up.

"Hey, Mom? Are there different types of Illusion Barriers?"

"Yes, there are types with monsters for training; some people are able to harvest from those. There are also types that will provide boosts to allies and depower enemies. There are even time dilation Barriers. Why?"

"My power is calling them Instant Dungeons, and apparently I can make different types when I level the skill up."

"Jack." His mother waited until he was looking at her to continue. "You can do whatever you want with empty Barriers, but until I say otherwise, do not make any monster dungeons without bringing me along, understand?"

"Yes, Mom."

"Good. Now, there's one other reason for you to be careful to keep your powers secret, and that reason is other Ability Users. Let me show you something." She got up and walked over to their desktop. Jack walked over to stand beside her while she typed in a web address. "The term Ability Users use for this world of supernatural abilities and creatures that we hide from the normal world is the Abyss. This is the Abyss Auction. It's like Amazon for people like us. Look at the tabs."

They sold all sorts of things, weapons, information— "Slaves?!"

"Yes, the Abyss is lawless. It's easy for people in the Abyss to avoid the attention of law enforcement. Might makes right there. There's no central power that can say something like, 'no slavery' and enforce that. If someone tried to take control like that, the major powers would band together to take that person down. Anyway, this is why I moved to Jasper and stopped using my powers. So something like this wouldn't happen to me."

"I see. I'll be careful."

* * *

 **Notes:** Now that we've gotten most of the exposition out of the way, next chapter should cover the events of Darkness Rising. Maybe more, we'll see. Thank you for reading.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The weekend after Jack learned about the Abyss he and his mother stood in the evening desert outside of town. All throughout the week, Jack had practiced in empty dungeons to train and develop new skills. So far, he had developed a variety of Mana techniques, like **Energy Bolt** , **Mana Shield** , and **Mana Blades**. Those skills, combined with the **Blunt Weapons Mastery** and **Power Strike** he'd gotten from swinging a bat around, were enough for his mother to let him try to open a low level Illusion Barrier with zombies in it.

"Hey, Mom? Before we start, can I try something?"

"What?"

"I want to see if I can make a party."

"A party."

"It's a game thing, so it falls under my theme, so I might be able to do it. It should let us share experience and stuff. Admittedly, it would help me more than you, but—"

"That sounds like a good idea. See if it works."

"Okay, **Create Party**."

 **You've created a party.**

 **What will you name the party?**

"Yes! I did it!"

 **Name the party "Yes! I did it!"?**

"What? No!"

"Jack?"

"It's asking me what to name our group, any preference?"

"No."

"'Kay, **Name: Team Darby**. **Invite: Mom**."

June startled when a blue box appeared in front of her face. Hesitantly, she reach up to press the button labeled "Yes".

" **ID Create**."

 **Which type of Instant Dungeon would you like to create?**

 **Empty**

 **Zombie**

Jack selected the zombie option and suddenly they were surrounded by the shambling undead.

* * *

June couldn't help but laugh as she roasted everything that moved. Jack was shooting her odd looks, but she couldn't bring herself to care. It had been far too long since she'd cut loose like this. Despite the years of relative inactivity, her old tactics and techniques were fresh in her mind.

She had been so worried at first that she had almost insisted that Jack put this off for another month, but these monsters were so. Very. _Weak_. June could kill them with a single well placed blast of flame, and even Jack could kill them with two or three swings of his bat. (It had taken him four or five in the beginning, he was improving drastically before her eyes.)

Right now, Jack was in a narrow canyon that they had cleared of zombies. June was stationed near the entrance, letting a few by for Jack, and killing the rest herself. Hearing her son call out to her, she threw up a wall of fire and trotted back to him.

"Is everything alright?" He didn't seem to be injured, but with his powers, specifically **A Gamer's Body,** that didn't necessarily mean anything.

"I'm fine, but I'm almost out of MP, can we quit for the night?"

"Of course."

Soon enough they were back at their home, sitting at the table and discussing how the night had gone.

"…and I got a title, so I guess that's also a thing my power does, **Apprentice Undead Slayer**. I was thinking that I should try to create some sort of crowd control skill. Maybe an energy rope to bind them if I can work out the shape manipulation."

"I noticed your attacks becoming stronger, did you level up too?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm level sixteen now. I should probably think about allocating stat points."

"Stat points? I think you mentioned them earlier, but I don't know what exactly…"

"Okay, so, when I look at my status, I see six different categories—vitality, dexterity, strength, intelligence, wisdom, and luck. Each category has a number to represent my physical and mental capabilities. I think I can raise all of them naturally, though I'm not sure what I'd do to raise luck. I can get more vitality by running, strength by weightlifting, dexterity by doing yoga or stretches or something, intelligence by studying, and earlier in the week I got a wisdom point for 'making good decisions.'"

June straightened in her seat, all traces of drowsiness gone. "You said that you could increase them naturally, is there another way?"

"Yeah, every time I level up, I get five points to spend. I already put five into strength, so I have seventy points to spend. What should I focus on?"

"Why not divide the points evenly between each category?"

Jack shook his head, "No, it's better to be specialized than to be a random character. Random characters have all stats equal." He added at her questioning look.

"That may be true for games, but this is real life."

"Point… **Status**."

June watched her son's eyes flick up and down a screen only he could see before he spoke again.

"I've been using **Observe** a lot to level it up, and I noticed that the average adult has stats somewhere between ten and twenty in each category. There are exceptions, of course. This kid in my class, Raf, he skipped a bunch of grades, he's like eleven or twelve. He has almost forty intelligence points. I have enough points to get everything up to fifteen to give me a strong base to work with, and the rest… I think I'll specialize in intelligence."

"I'm not complaining, but why intelligence?"

"My mana attacks like **Energy Bolt** get stronger the higher my intelligence is. Also, it seems like the most useful stat for day-to-day life."

June watched Jack's fingers dance midair as he enhanced himself. There didn't seem to be any physical changes.

Jack's eyes widened and he reeled in his chair, "Wow."

"You can feel the difference?"

"I got a skill for raising my intelligence to fifty. It lets me sense and manipulate mana better. This should help me with creating my own techniques. I've got to—"

Jack stood up from the table and started to move, but she caught his arm before he could leave the room. "No way. It's past midnight, you can work on your skills in the morning."

Jack looked like he wanted to argue, but nodded anyway, "Oh, before I forget—" he rummaged in his pockets– "Do you know what these can be used for?"

June stared at purple gemstones and— "Are those teeth?"

"Yeah, **Observe** says they're called Teeth of the Dead and Soul Stones. Apparently they can be used for alchemy and spell casting, but I don't know which spells would need them."

"And you got these from zombies in the Illusion Barrier?" At his nod, she dragged a hand down her face, "Your powers are ridiculous. Those zombies don't even have real bodies."

"They seemed real enough to me."

"No, it's—look, when Illusion Barriers with monsters are formed, they basically gather restless spirits and give them physical forms made of energy, what you call mana or MP, but those forms are like soap bubbles. There's no substance to them. I think I mentioned earlier that people can harvest things from them, but the abilities and spells required are closely guarded secrets."

"Oh." Jack's face fell, and June hoped he understood, because she couldn't bear to say it aloud. Just awakening his powers made him a target, but having an ability like this? If anyone ever found out, people would come for him. People with guns and magic and mercenaries, and June wouldn't be able to protect him. He would be taken away and forced to work for his captors until he died.

June felt paralyzed. What should she do? What _could_ she do? Their best protection was anonymity, but that was so flimsy. She hadn't contacted any of her old associates since before Jack had been born. For all she knew, her old group had been run out of their territory or destroyed in one of the squabbles between factions that flared up from time to time. Even if they were still around, June had never been particularly high in the hierarchy, not like—she had no leverage to ensure Jack's safety.

"Mom? Mom!" Jack was by her side, looking concerned. "I—I'll be careful, I won't use any of my abilities unless I'm in a Barrier, and..."

June twisted in her seat to pull him into a hug, "It's okay, I'll think of something."

* * *

The next evening, Jack followed his mother through their neighborhood. They had cleared out the zombies near their house and were searching for more undead to hunt. It was eerie to see the streets he'd grown up on devoid of life and cluttered with zombies. Tonight, Jack was focusing on energy attacks, particularly his long range options. He was very pleased with the results; his heightened intellect meant that he could kill each zombie with a single shot.

Whenever they got rushed by a group and had to resort to close combat, Jack was keenly aware of the weight around his neck. The charm was a small thing, but the unfamiliarity of it made it seem obtrusive. He was uncomfortably conscious of the fact that small piece of amber etched with symbols was all that stood between him and detection. Hopefully, he'd get used to it soon.

He was jolted out of his thoughts by a loud growl. Whirling to face the sound, Jack was shocked to see a figure looming over the rooftops. " **Observe**."

 **Legion Zombie LV 34**

 **HP: 15200**

 **MP: 1200**

 **The aggregate of zombies holding grudges. It appears when there is a large scale massacre of zombies. It doesn't have any magical powers, but it has immense strength and stamina. Its low speed is its weakness.**

"Oh crap."

"Jack! Leave the Illusion Barrier now!"

"Okay! **ID Escape!** "

 **You can't escape this area.**

"Mom, it's not working!"

"What?"

"Can't run from boss fights!"

The shambling monstrosity had worked its way around the houses separating it from them and now stood just down the road. June ran forward to meet it.

"Stay back, let me deal with this!"

Jack retreated and climbed onto the roof of a neighbor's SUV both to give himself a better shot at the zombie and to avoid an ambush in case any zombies hadn't joined the Legion.

" **Energy Bolt! Energy Bolt! Energy Bolt! En—** _damn_ , Mom!"

His projectiles connected with the creature's chest, but they barely put a dent in its HP. Meanwhile, his mother had reached the giant and called up _light_ and _heat_ , and _burned the thing's right foot off_. He knew she was strong—he still couldn't see her level, even—but this was something else. There was an enraged roar as the monster fell and tried to hit the woman backing away.

Jack aimed his palm at the zombie's head while his mom circled around to avoid the boss's flailing limbs. He gathered energy to his hand and concentrated. What did he want this attack to do? The **Energy Bolts** had barely done anything, so he needed something new. He needed an attack that was less like a BB gun and more like a hollow point. It had to penetrate and devastate. A ball of mana formed in front of his palm, and he molded it into a cone and set it spinning with an application of thought. There was a flash of light when his mother attacked again and Jack took the opportunity to launch his projectile. It sped through the air, pierced the amalgamation's skull, and exploded once it was in. The Legion Zombie's head was gone, and its health bar dropped to zero.

"Whoa."

 **You've defeated the Boss Monster, Legion Zombie.**

 **You've obtained the title, "Zombie Slayer".**

 **You've created a new skill.**

 **Name the skill?**

 **[Yes] [No]**

Jack pressed the first button and tried to figure out a name for his technique. He had to call his attacks to use them (which made him feel like a cartoon character), so the name should be short. Maybe Spiral Shot? Drill Shot? Explodo-Drill?

"Spiral Shot." Alliteration for the win.

 **Name the skill "Spiral Shot"?**

 **[Yes] [No]**

Once Jack confirmed the decision, a new window appeared.

 **[Spiral Shot (Active) LV 1 EXP 1.0%] A skill to draw on a large amount of mana and shoot it in a spiraling cone. Penetration power and strength increases as it charges. Penetration increases by 20%. Attack Power increases by 600%. Basic charge time: 4 seconds. Maximum charge time: 10 seconds.**

Oh, wow, this was amazing. He was definitely going to level this skill up. Maybe he could decrease the charge time that way.

"Jack!"

He made his way to the ground and ran over to her, "Yes, Mom?"

"Jack, what…" she sighed and gestured to the ground, "what is this?"

He finally noticed the little pile of items on the asphalt, "Our reward for defeating the boss?"

His mother started to speak, but closed her mouth and shook her head, looking one hundred percent done with him and his powers. "Is that real money?"

Jack bent down to pick up the small stack of bills from between five glass vials and a book. He tried adding it to his inventory. "According to my powers, it is. My cash just increased by five hundred dollars."

"Of course it did, and what are those?"

" **Observe**."

 **[Lowest grade Recovery Potion – Rank: Normal] A lower-middle grade potion that instantly recovers 200 HP. It tastes like strawberries.**

"Strawberry flavored Recovery Potions?"

His mom looked like she wanted to dispute the entirety of his statement, but she latched onto the first part, "What, why strawberry…?"

"Well, if they were cherry flavored, it wouldn't matter how effective they are, because I'd never use them."

She gave him a flat look, "Potions like that exist in the Abyss, but they're very rare. Like, even the least effective is worth over ten thousand dollars. Your powers created over fifty thousand—oh, excuse me—fifty thousand five hundred dollars out of nothing."

"Oh," and there his powers went again, giving him another reason to be fear discovery.

"I'm scared to ask about the book," she picked it up and very nearly dropped it. "The book is asking me if I want to learn a skill."

"Huh? You can use skill books too? Is it because you're in a party with me? What skill is it anyway? No, wait— **Observe**."

 **[Skill Book: Life Drain – Rank: Rare] Technique possessed by some middle rank or above undead that can absorb life force. It absorbs the target's life force and adds it to the caster's life force. With training, it is possible to transfer the user's life force to allies.**

He relayed the description to her, "You can learn it if you want. I'll probably get another one eventually."

"If you're sure…" The book burst into motes of light.

"I wouldn't try using it on the undead, though. In some games, using skills like that on them causes the spell to backfire."

"Alright… Jack, if these Boss Monsters are going to be a thing with your powers, then from now on, whenever you learn how to open a new type of Illusion Barrier, you need to bring me with you until I'm sure you can handle the boss on your own."

"Alright."

"Okay, let's go home."

* * *

A couple of months later, and Jack was ready to expand his arsenal. It had taken up all of his free time, but by running through countless zombie (and later ghost and dire wolf) dungeons, he had amassed almost a hundred thousand dollars. Honestly, since he tended to shove it all into his inventory as soon as he got it, the money barely felt real to him, but when he checked his accounts, there it was.

He'd created or acquired a few new skills of his own during that time. Shortly after creating his first technique, he succeeded in forming a **Mana Rope** and using it to **Bind** enemies. Inspired by the piercing power of **Spiral Shot** , he also developed **Spinning Mana Arrow**. That technique was a perfect long range attack, especially since the number of arrows he could form and fire at a time increased as he leveled the skill up. From the Boss Monsters he'd defeated, he got **Life Drain** , **Flash Step** , and **Enhanced Senses**.

He needed more abilities, though. Healing was at the top of his wishlist. **Life Drain** was all well and good, but he couldn't use it in all situations. None of the mobs he had access to right now inflicted status ailments, but it might be a good idea to get a cleanser anyway, maybe if he had money left over. Defensive buffs were a must, for both him and his mother. Mom's martial prowess aside, they were both squishy wizards. Debuffs might be worth looking into if he had money to spare. He really wanted to be able to summon minions to fight for him, and finally, some more offensive spells would be nice.

After a hour of careful consideration, Jack was ready to make his purchases. He'd found a healing spell with built in status cleanser, a technique that would make his skin as hard as bronze and as tough as leather, a technique to boost regeneration, another to boost strength, four books to summon each of the four major elements, a blindness spell, a set of accessories to boost his MP capacity and recovery, and a phone case that boosted fire techniques for his mother. He paid an extra three hundred dollars to have his things delivered within thirty minutes.

Twenty-eight minutes later, there was a tapping at his window. Jack was bemused to find what looked like a miniature UFO carrying a large box beeping at him. He pulled the window open, and it flew in.

"Are you Jack Darby?"

"Um, yes?"

"Thank you for purchasing our products."

With that, the drone severed the cords connecting it to its package and flew back out the window into the night.

* * *

As soon as June stepped into the house, a party invite popped up. She accepted it and went to find Jack.

"Mom! I got some stuff for you!"

He handed her four books and a cell phone case.

"What's all this? I thought you were just going to get me one defensive skill?"

"Well, yeah, but I thought about it, and doesn't it make more sense for both of us to be able to heal? So if one of us is too hurt to fix ourself, the other can help. And as for the rest… They just seemed really useful, and better to have and not need? And the phone case was only two thousand, and it should boost your pyrokinesis, so I thought, 'Why not?'"

"Only two thousand?"

Jack pulled a new necklace out from under his shirt and raised his other hand so she could see the matching set of bracelets, "These cost almost ten times as much, so…"

"What do they do?"

"Gives me access to more mana and boosts my MP regen."

"Don't you have enough already?"

"There's no such thing as enough. The goal is to never run out of mana, no matter how many techniques I use or how long a fight lasts. Now, can we open up an ID? I've got some people I want you to meet."

Moments later, she watched as her son materialized four beings. Oddly enough, one looked like a human girl in a yellow dress, and the rest looked like manifestations of fire, wind and water.

"Mom, this is Gnome, Salamander, Sylph, and Nymph; girls, this is my mom."

"Hello."

"Hello/Hiya!/Hi/Hello."

"If you don't mind me asking, why does Gnome…?"

"Because she wants to look like that."

"Okay."

"Oh! Once I formed a pact with them, I got an affinity with each of their elements." Jack created a small flame on his fingertip. "See, now I'm kind of pyrokinetic too!"

June smiled.

* * *

Jack exited KO Burger and texted his mom to let her know he was done for the day. He'd gotten this job at her insistence to both disguise the fact that he always had money on hand and to build a resume in the real world. It was frustrating, though, both the grief his classmates gave him for working here and the fact that there were so many better uses of his time.

As he made his way over to the bike rack, a blue motorcycle caught his eye. As little as a year ago, he would have been fantasizing over owning a bike just like that despite the fact that it was clearly custom built. Now though… the text floating above it was the most notable feature.

 **[Autobot Warrior] LV ? : Arcee**

"What the hell? **Observe**." Curious despite himself, Jack moved closer to investigate.

 **Name: Arcee**

 **Occupation: Scout**

 **Title: Autobot Warrior**

 **Level: ?**

 **Age: 61408**

 **Race: Cybertronian**

 **HP: ?**

 **MP: ?**

 **Vitality: ?**

 **Dexterity: ?**

 **Strength: ?**

 **Intelligence: ?**

 **Wisdom: ?**

 **Luck: ?**

 **Status: Normal**

 **Information: Created in Altihex, this femme joined the Autobots as a scout in the war against the Decepticons. When that war came to earth, she followed.**

 **Mood: Hostile, Stressed, Mournful**

What.

* * *

 **Notes:** So it turns out that the entirety of my last AN was a lie. I meant to go through Darkness Rising; really, I did. But then I realized that I needed at least the first ID Boss Fight and party mechanics and set up at least some of the skills that he'll use later, and all of that prompted even more exposition, and... Anyway, we've at least made it to the start of the episode, so that's something. Thanks to everyone who read, reviewed, favorited and followed.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes** : Some dialogue borrowed from Darkness Rising Part 5.

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

 **Gamer's Mind** was an interesting skill. Most of the techniques Jack currently had came from skill books. Some, he'd developed on his own or acquired by repeating certain actions (like **Dishwashing** , which he still couldn't believe was an actual skill). Only two of his abilities came with his power— **Gamer's** **Mind** and **Gamer's Body**. Those two things were what let him live like a video game character. The latter was why he could regain health by eating food or sleeping in a bed, why any injuries he received resulted in a brief moment of pain, but no further effects. The former was a bit more disturbing. It _seemed_ benign enough; the description of the skill said it did three things—allow calm and logical thought, allow a peaceful state of mind, and give immunity to mental status effects.

His powers were affecting his mind, or, to be more accurate, the way he thought and felt had been irreversibly altered months ago. He'd never really thought about until recently, though. When he'd been aboard the Decepticon ship, there had been a few moments where he nearly been overwhelmed by panic and fear, but then those feelings would abruptly disappear.

Jack took in the room while he thought. If he still thought like a normal person, he might try to leave at this point, might have been spooked off by coming so close to death, but he hadn't been normal since the day he woke up with powers. He flirted with death practically every time he opened an Illusion Barrier. And, if he was honest with himself, it might be too late to back out. He wasn't sure about all the capabilities of Cybertronians, but it didn't seem implausible that they could find him based on images captured by their optics. At least one of the Decepticons on the ship had to have gotten a good look at them. Finally, now that he was involved in all this, he wanted to see it through.

While the Autobots puzzled over the pictures Miko had taken of the Decepticon computer. Jack opened up the notes on his phone and started making a wishlist for him to look into when he got home. A better sort of movement skill for sure, teleportation would be ideal, but flight would do. There were techniques that specifically targeted technology, maybe they would be effective against Cybertronians? A more effective shield spell would also be—

"Whatcha doing?"

Jack shoved his phone back into his pocket with a mental note to get some sort of skill or item that would let him know where things were passively. "Mom wanted to know where I am. I need to get back soon."

Miko shot him a look of pure disbelief, "Seriously? Things are getting really interesting around here!"

"'Interesting,' that's one way to put it." He muttered. "It's getting late, though, and it doesn't look like they're going to finish anytime soon."

He looked around for a door. If he could slip out, he could create an empty dungeon and **Flash Step** away.

* * *

In the end, he didn't have to make his own way home. Optimus noticed him slipping out and had the three guardians take their charges home. Once Arcee pulled into the garage, Jack went straight to his room. He ordered some new books and sat down to wait for them.

His thoughts turned to the situation with his mother. It wasn't sustainable. The Autobots were already demanding too much of his time. Today, for instance, should have been spent hunting with her, but Arcee had dragged him off before he was awake enough to protest. If this kept happening, his mom would get suspicious, if she wasn't already. Then there was the Abyss. So far as he could tell, none of the Autobots were part of it. He didn't want that to change, but how could he keep his mother from talking about it without clueing her in? He couldn't.

It was impossible to keep the Abyss from the Autobots _and_ the Autobots from his mom. He'd have to tell one or the other. Once his books arrived, he'd talk to her.

* * *

June glanced up from the news to see Jack hovering in the doorway. The last time he'd been this hesitant to talk to her, she'd ended up telling him about the Abyss. What could possibly have happened now? Potential scenarios entered her thoughts, each worse than the last. She was about to get up and confront him when Jack abruptly opened an Illusion Barrier.

"Jack? What's going on?"

"Mom, I need to tell you something. I—the thing is, I also need you to _not act on_ what I tell you."

"Jack, if you've been—"

"Aliens are real."

Now June was even more alarmed. Nonhuman races existed on the earth, but they couldn't live safely outside of Illusion Barriers. Only the most powerful of those beings could exist without fear in the real world, if one of them found Jack…

"Both my powers and the government confirm it."

"The government?"

"Yeah, there's a guy with the Defense Intelligence Agency who's their liaison."

"And how did you get involved with them?"

"Some classmates and I stumbled onto them, and they panicked and brought us back to their base. The liaison was mad about their carelessness, but he said it was fine if we hang around as long as we signed NDAs."

"Alright, so what do you do over there?"

"Not much, honestly. Yesterday, Arcee got me out of bed at like six so we could go over to the base. I spent most of the day just sitting around. One of them is pretty into cartoons."

"You watched cartoons with an alien?"

"Yeah, it was pretty much a waste of the day. It was fun though."

"So, why are you telling me this?"

"I've observed them all, and as far as I can tell, none of them know about the Abyss. I'd like to keep it that way."

She didn't like having to watch what she said in her own house, but... It seemed like Jack was making friends. He hadn't had any close friends since his best friend had moved away when he was small.

"Alright, I'll watch what I say, but, Jack? Be careful, okay?"

"You know me Mom. I'm always careful."

* * *

Despite his words to his mother, the next day found Jack wandering through the Giant Sized Array's observatory. As he and his classmates picked their way over the bodies—some of them still had names over their heads, but some of them… didn't—Jack activated **Giant's** **Strength** , **Troll's Restoration** , and **Bronze Skin**. It probably wouldn't help much (at all) against a Decepticon, but it made Jack feel better.

He shifted nervously while Raf wrested control of the array away from the Decepticons. "What happens when the 'Cons realize they're being punked?" He wondered aloud.

"It's only virtual combat, you know, like online gaming."

"Yeah, Jack, what are the 'Cons going to do? They're probably like a thousand miles away."

When the tentacle Jack's powers identified as belonging to a Soundwave arrived to menace them, Jack couldn't help but feel that they'd jinxed it.

When Miko was knocked back, he dove for the axe just ahead of the appendage. He dodged and leaped forward. A **Power Strike** to the tentacle severed it. It wasn't a clean cut, and the axe head was mangled, but it caused Soundwave to withdraw from the room.

Jack crossed the room to where Miko was gaping at him. He pulled her up and turned to Raf. "We've got to leave, _now_."

"Sure, I just need to—"

A loud crash reverberated through the observatory.

"What was that?"

"He must have destroyed the hard-line, the dishes are locked on to Cybertron."

* * *

Back at the base, once Optimus and his strike team left, Miko started in on Jack.

"Since when are you so strong?"

"I think I just got lucky and hit a weak spot."

"What are you two talking about?" Ratchet frowned down at them.

"Nothing./Jack cut this guy's tentacle off!"

"Tenta—Soundwave? You all met Soundwave? You _hurt_ Soundwave? How?"

"Luck? Adrenaline? I don't know." Jack shrugged. "Now that I think about it, to be as flexible as they were, wouldn't the plating on them _have_ to be really thin? It's not that surprising that I managed to cut it with an axe."

"Maybe," Ratchet conceded, sounding not at all convinced.

* * *

Standing at the railing, watching Ratchet weld another plate to the base of what would presumably be a replacement volcano, Jack felt himself come to a crossroads. On the one hand, their grades were riding on this; on the other hand, if he let the medic do as he pleased, who knew what sort of monstrosities Ratchet would create. Jack's grades, at least, could survive the blow, and this had the potential to be very interesting. He glanced down to where Raf was hovering anxiously, shooting worried looks between his original project and Ratchet's work.

Alright, fine, maybe he could try reining Ratchet in a little.

"Hey, Ratchet? Shouldn't the base be a lot smaller?"

Ratchet narrowed his optics at Jack, "And why do you say that?"

"Well, Raf's going to need to carry it into the classroom, you know? I can help him if it's too heavy, but if it doesn't even fit through the door…"

Ratchet stared at him for a minute, then considered Raf's small frame and the framework for the mechanical volcano. "Maybe."

For a while, the only sounds in the base were those of Ratchet moving around the project. When he moved onto creating an engine, Jack dug out a notebook and took his life in his hands by bothering the medic again.

"So… could explain what you're doing? Please?" He added when Ratchet leveled another look at him. "We don't need to give a presentation, but the teacher is going to ask us some questions."

"Right, well, this is going to be very different from that two-cylinder engine you were working on…"

Ratchet was an interesting lecturer. Usually, he tried his best to ignore the humans when they were in the base or dealt with them brusquely. When faced with an attentive audience, however, he patiently explained the details of what he was doing. He didn't mind when Jack's questions went from practical—"So it functions like a timing gear?"—to simply curious—"Were these common on Cybertron? What were they used for?" Jack kept him talking through Miko's project as well, because when was he going to get another chance to learn about the Autobots' home planet? Sometimes Ratchet would falter or grow silent, and Jack knew that they had stumbled onto another subject tainted by the war. He asked about some unrelated topic at those points. It wasn't long before Miko and Raf became engaged as well.

Once all the projects were done, Jack approached the Cybertronian engine and looked up at the medic. "So, how do I turn it on?"

"That lever near the end."

"This o—ack!"

Jack leapt backwards when the engine roared to life started spasming across the floor. Ratchet shut it off remotely. Arcee stepped forward.

"Maybe you should switch projects."

Ratchet bristled, but Jack stepped in before the medic could speak. "I don't have time to start over, not if I want a good grade. Besides, I can still use this. I just need a base or frame or something. Stabilize or suspend it so it can't flail around like that."

Jack walked back to where Miko and Raf were standing, and Miko sidled up to him. "So that's you and Raf sorted. Looks like I'm the only one who'll be in trouble tomorrow."

"You could try telling the truth?"

"What, that a control freak robot took over my project, and this is his home planet?"

"That you were going to do a model of the solar system, but those are boring and uninspired—" Miko's arched brow morphed into a scowl— "so this is a model of a planet that exists in… Hey, Arcee, do you know what the coordinates for Cybertron are?"

"Do you seriously think that our teacher will buy that?"

"Not really, but it's the best I've got. You could always go home and search the internet for projects you could do overnight."

"Ugh, no thanks. I like sleep."

* * *

Jack stood by the couch, watching the ground bridge and waiting for the Autobots come through with Wheeljack. While Raf and Miko speculated about Wheeljack, Jack was silent, frowning thoughtfully at where Ratchet was working on the bridge, trying to repair the damage from the scraplets. The medic had almost died the other day. All of the Autobots had come far too close to death, and Jack had been practically useless. Well, "useless" might be an overstatement, but he'd held back when the Autobots' lives were on the line. Even when Ratchet was being _eaten alive_ in front of him, he'd stuck to the fire extinguisher instead of one of his skills. It was true that exposure might lead to death, but given that the Autobots defended earth from the Decepticons, did he really have the right to prioritize his life over any of theirs?

He was shaken from his thoughts by the blue-green light of the bridge. Interested in the new arrival, his full attention was on the portal when the Autobots came through, followed by—

 **[Hunter of Hydrax] LV: ? Makeshift**

Oh no.

* * *

 **Notes** : Jack is trying, but he's not nearly as subtle as he needs to be. Was rewatching the science fair bit, and how _did_ Raf fit that thing in the classroom? Thinking about (currently working on) a spinoff to this verse where all three kids are friends and part of the Abyss before the Autobots. Thoughts? Thanks to everyone who read, reviewed, favorited and followed.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes** : Again, some dialogue is borrowed from the show.

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

Okay, he could deal with this. Hopefully without blatantly using his powers, but if it came down to it, he could drag this Makeshift into an Illusion Barrier and hope for the best. He could go underground with Gnome while Salamander went after Makeshift with Sylph's assistance, pop back up behind the imposter, and target his joints.

He came out of his thoughts just in time to notice Miko wandering into the interior of the base with not-Wheeljack trailing behind her. He considered going after her when Bulkhead spoke up.

"Something's just not right about Wheeljack."

Seeing an opportunity, Jack spoke up, "Do the 'Cons have anyone who specialize in infiltration? Who could impersonate your friend?"

"Maybe."

"Bulkhead, aren't you being a little paranoid? People do change, you know?" Arcee cut in.

"Not Jackie. Besides, the Decepticons have at least one shifter that we know is alive and a couple more whose deaths we couldn't confirm. If any of them made it to earth…"

"Shifter?"

Bulkhead turned to Jack, "Most Cybertronians only have two forms, our root mode and vehicle mode. There are some people who can have a third form, but they're rare. Six changers are practically unheard of. Shifters are legendary. They can take on as many forms as they can scan, including ones that are way bigger or smaller than their original form, including the forms of other 'bots."

"Well, at least there's an easy way to find out? You and Wheeljack go way back, so you can just ask him about something that wouldn't appear on any records. Uh, it's not possible to scan other people's memories, right?"

"No. Well, yes, but the Decepticons maybe had enough time to grab Wheeljack and run. There wasn't enough time for them to capture him, do a cortical psychic patch, and send out an imposter before we got there."

"What's a—"

Arcee cut him off, "They're coming back."

While Bulkhead started questioning Makeshift about the Battle of Darkmount Pass, Jack approached Miko.

"Hey, could I get you to help me with the sound equipment? It's acting kind of weird."

"Wait, I wanna hear this."

"No! You need to—I mean, I see, you won't work for free, huh?" Jack checked how much cash he had in his wallet. "Miko, I will pay you thirty-seven dollars to come check out the sound stuff _now_."

"What? Seri—" Miko's reply was cut off with a scream when the shifter snatched her up. Jack backpedaled to avoid being grabbed too and cursed himself for being too slow to draw Miko away.

When the ground bridge opened, Jack steeled himself to fight alongside the Autobots and damn the consequences. He almost sagged in relief when, instead of a wave of Vehicons, a familiar figure burst through. The imposter was forced to drop Miko and Bulkhead dove to catch her.

Jack retreated to where Arcee, Bulkhead, Miko, and Bumblebee were standing. Arcee's gaze snapped from one combatant to the other. "Which one's the real Wheeljack?"

"I lost track." Bulkhead admitted.

"Left one's the imposter." Jack said, just before the right Cybertronian triumphed.

"That's my Jackie!"

* * *

When Jack saw sparks beginning to fly from the roof of the train car, he moved to the other side so that anyone coming through would be between him and the open door. Miko ran to the back to grab an axe off the wall.

Actually, wait, these men were standing on top of a moving train, and accidents did happen… Jack called up his wind elemental, Sylph.

There were two types of summoning. One type let him give spirits a physical form, so they could use their elemental powers and physical attacks independently of him. For the second type, he called up a spirit and borrowed its power. He could mentally command it to do things, and since he didn't give it a physical form, no one could see it but him. This what Jack used to call Sylph into the train.

 _There should be people above us, trying to cut into this car. Knock them off the train._

The spirit darted out the side of the car, and the wind became a roar. Over the sound of rushing air, Jack heard a trio of screams.

 _Master, what should I do about the big machine on the roof?_

Sylph sent him the image of a helicopter.

 _If they try to leave, let them, but if anyone comes out, blow them off too._

"They stopped; why'd they stop?" Miko wondered.

"I don't know, maybe—" Jack was cut off by the sound of an explosion. "What the hell?"

 _Sylph, what happened?_

 _I let the machine leave, but then it attacked the tracks!_

Damn, he should have killed them all.

He leaned out the side of the train to confirm that, yes, the tracks were a smoking ruin and called Ratchet.

"Ratchet, MECH blew the train tracks! You need to bridge us and the soldiers out of here!"

" _We've lost access to the train data! I can't bridge you back without your coordinates!_ "

Jack felt a wave of calmroll over him. Now he could be clearheaded for his impending death. Thank you, **Gamer's** **Mind**. He turned to address Miko when a flash of red caught his eye. Maybe he wouldn't die today after all.

* * *

He collapsed on the ground and pulled a bottle of water out of his inventory. He'd had another encounter with Soundwave the other night, and the Decepticon remembered him. Jack had been slammed into a nearby display with enough force to knock off a good chunk of his HP. If he were a baseline human, his ribs would probably be cracked if not broken. Raf, on the other hand had been comparatively gently pushed aside when Soundwave went for the energon harvester.

Losing so much health at once had inspired Jack to improve his vitality, which was why he was running in an empty dungeon instead of hanging out with the Autobots. He checked his stats, vitality was at forty-seven. His goal was fifty. He could keep running for a few more hours to get those last three points, or he could allocate the points he'd saved up now. After a moment's thought, he brought his vitality and wisdom up to fifty, and dumped his remaining points into intelligence.

 **[Physical Affinity] has been created as VIT increased to 50.**

 **[Sage's Wisdom] has been created as WIS increased to 50.**

 **As INT increases to 100, a random skill related to the brain will be created.**

 **[Telekinesis] has been created.**

 **[Medium Mana Capacity] has been created as INT increased to 100.**

 **[Mana Regeneration] has been created as INT increased to 100.**

Jack read through the descriptions then fell back laughing. This was excellent. The vitality skill increased his health, defense, and stamina recovery rate in addition to making training physical skills thirty percent more efficient. The wisdom skill boosted MP recovery and magic resistance. The two INT skills cumulatively increased his magic attack power, decreased the amount of MP he had to use for each attack, and increased mana regeneration by one hundred percent.

* * *

Jack watched Arcee disappear into the trees, concerned. She'd been panicking ever since they'd found that downed ship. She must have recognized it as belonging to a Decepticon. Who could it be? He hadn't seen any of the Autobots worrying over their enemies since they learned that Megatron was on planet. Was this person on Megatron's level? Or could this be personal?

He glanced around, suddenly feeling exposed. He called up Gnome and Sylph. He had Gnome take him underground while Sylph followed Arcee invisibly. Jack stopped short when Sylph relayed that Arcee was fighting someone, sending images of a purple and black femme. He stayed still, focusing all his attention on the two combatants. At first, Arcee had the upper hand, but the other Cybertronian managed to turn the tables and bind Arcee with some sort of webbing.

Jack reacted before he could consider secrecy.

 _Drop a tree on the purple one._

There was a crack and a loud groan followed by a crash. The unfamiliar Decepticon leapt back and started scanning the woods for her attacker.

Okay, the new femme was distracted, but who knew how long that would last. He needed the Decepticon to leave, to free Arcee, and to get him and his guardian out of these woods. He took a moment to plan before turning to Gnome.

 _You said that you took a human form because you liked the way it looked. Does that mean you can look like whatever you want?_

 _Yes._

 _Can the other spirits do that too?_

 _I think so._

He actualized the other two elementals.

 _I need both of you to look and sound like me. Can you do that?_

In response, there was a shifting of water and a flash of flame and suddenly Jack was staring at two copies of himself.

"Okay, Nymph, take my phone. Go back through the tunnel and run away until the phone has a signal. When it does, contact me and I'll tell you what to say. Salamander, your part's trickier…"

* * *

Arcee struggled until she broke one arm free. At the sound, Airachnid stopped examining her surroundings and focused on her again. There was a moment of tense silence that was broken by a rustling sound behind the Decepticon. Arcee's optics widened.

"Jack, what are you doing?"

Jack stumbled out of the underbrush, waved— _waved_ , as though he wasn't in imminent danger— and took off running into the woods.

"Oh, you know that human?" Airachnid's voice was tinged with cruel delight, "I don't have one in my collection yet because of you. I think I'll come back for you after I've mounted his head on my wall."

Arcee cursed and kept pulling at her restraints. She shouldn't have come back. She should have kept Jack with her and kept driving until she could call for backup. Why didn't she just _keep_ _driving_? Inspired, she thrashed until she could transform and drove until the webbing snapped. She freed herself just in time for an explosion to sound through the woods.

Primus, what was—

"Jaaaaaaaack!"

That was Airachnid. Arcee transformed back to root mode and rushed towards the sound. She found her nemesis crashing through the trees, looking for something—looking for Jack, she realized. She put on a burst of speed and leapt for Airachnid's back. At the last second, Airachnid dodged, swiping at Arcee as she went. They exchanged a flurry of blows until Airachnid landed a hit that knocked Arcee back. She moved to re-engage but found her left hand stuck to a tree. She turned her other hand into a blaster just in time to shoot the second mass of webbing Airachnid sent her way.

The impasse that followed was broken by more blaster fire. Bumblebee came darting through the trees while Optimus and Bulkhead picked their way through the foliage. Airachnid faded into the trees, and soon Arcee heard the sound of drilling.

"No! Bee, don't let her escape!"

The scout ran forwards, but returned moments later, unsuccessful.

"Thanks, Optimus," she said as the Autobot leader freed her hand. "Why are you here?"

"Jack called us."

"Jack! Where is he? Did you see him?"

"Relax," Bulkhead offered, "We left hi—"

"Right here." The human strolled into the clearing and waved up at her. He looked disheveled but none the worse for wear.

"I thought I told you to stay put!"

He shifted guiltily, "Yes, but you looked like you needed backup, and I couldn't fight directly, so I had to call for help."

Arcee relented slightly, "Things worked out this time, but you have no idea what Airachnid's capable of. If she had gotten her hands on you…"

"Arcee, I swear, she was never anywhere near me."

She wanted to keep arguing, to impress upon him the danger he had been in, but she just couldn't find the energy to continue. It hadn't been a bad plan, she thought grudgingly. He destroyed Airachnid's ship, and with it the signal jammer, and called for help. If she had been thinking clearly, she might have done the same when her first calls were blocked.

"Fine, let's just get back to base."

* * *

" **Soul Recovery.** Again."

Gnome slammed the club she had formed from earth into his side.

 **The level of Physical Endurance has increased.**

" **Soul Recovery**. Again."

They had been repeating this for hours, ever since Jack returned from the base.

Earlier that day, Optimus had contracted a virus. It had taken Jack a while, but he managed to get close to the Prime while Ratchet and Bulkhead were distracted by Arcee and Bumblebee. He tried his healing technique, but it barely did anything. Maybe it was because Optimus was so much stronger than him and had much more health. Maybe it was the alien or robot thing. Maybe it had to do with the nature of the virus. Maybe leveling up his healing skill wouldn't allow him to do anything if this happened a second time, but he needed to do something to feel better. He hadn't even waited for Arcee and Bumblebee to return, he just left as soon as Ratchet started to synthesize a cure.

The alarm on his phone went off, and he dismissed Gnome and left the Instant Dungeon. Mom wouldn't appreciate it if he missed dinner. There just wasn't enough time in the day. Maybe he should work on **ID Create** for a while, see if he could get a time dilation dungeon like his mom mentioned. He'd skip school tomorrow and work on it. He'd tell Arcee he wasn't feeling well and have her leave without him. With Optimus better, there hopefully wouldn't be any more excitement for a while.

* * *

Of course he missed the grand return of Megatron. To be fair, all the excitement had happened during school time, so he would have missed it anyway. He wondered if he might have seen or been able to do something if he had stayed longer the day before. Oh well, there was nothing left to do but to move forward.

Speaking of moving… Jack spotted Miko running for the ground bridge, and he moved to intercept. He grabbed her arm, and managed to pull her back long enough for the portal to close.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"I should be asking you that! I missed out on seeing them last time. Now I've lost my chance to get pics of zombiecons!"

"Are you kidding me? Megatron himself could be there, and you want to run in and distract the 'Bots while they fight him?"

"Tch, can you not relax for like three seconds?"

"Can _you_ n—"

"Hey, you two need to move away from the ground bridge so if the others need to come back in a hurry…"

Jack and Miko glared at each other and stalked back to the couches. Eventually, the away team returned. Apparently, it had been Starscream, not Megatron, who was the source of dark energon. The Autobots drove him off, then dealt with the undead Skyquake.

* * *

 **Notes:** Up next: Crisscross. Torn between "I wanna write the other two humans" and "but they won't get clued in until waaay later," I have started a spinoff where all three of the kids have powers. Thanks to everyone who read, favorited, alerted and reviewed.


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